The start of the season is good for tour operators, but expensive airline tickets weigh heavily

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The first months of 2023 marked an excellent start to the season, a trend that continues in the summer albeit with some anxiety due to the price trend, especially for airline tickets, which compromises the spending capacity of families. These are the key points addressed by Franco Gattinoni, president of the Organized Tourism Federation (FTO), during the national assembly held in Milan. In addition to the expensive airline tickets and the disruption caused by low-cost carriers, the president recalled the difficulties caused by the lack of personnel and how to attract new recruits.

The Fto survey

The president presented the results of a survey among associates which highlights how practically all tour operators have had to face problems and inefficiencies caused by last-minute flight cancellations. More than three quarters have recorded inconvenience to customers due to delayed flights in the last twelve months, 72.3% do not blame the tour operator when the canceled flight was part of a package, on the contrary they judge its management to be satisfactory . But only in 30% of cases the companies, in the event of cancellation, offered rerouting to other carriers. After the cancellation of the route, the companies limit themselves to indicating a link, leaving the burden of re-protection to the customer or the agency. On the other hand, 42.7% report that the company did not offer the choice between a refund or rerouting in the face of a canceled flight. In 18.3% of cases, the carrier even refused reimbursement of transfer costs to and from the airport when the customer bought an overnight stay at his own expense. 36.6% of the agencies then appealed to a lawyer to enforce the passengers’ rights or recover the sums advanced by the agency. Many, too many disservices for customers. The survey also highlights which airlines create the most problems: black jersey Ryanair with reports for 68.3% of the sample, followed by Easyjet with 40.2% and WizzAir with 34.1%. Finally, 64.6% believe that low cost airlines respect passenger protection legislation less than scheduled airlines and even 92.7% of travel agencies think that the situation, especially with low cost airlines, has worsened after the pandemic. And so the companies in the sector do it themselves: 78% offer their own customer assistance service which provides for financial compensation in the event of flight delays of more than three hours.